Going Under
by Reid's one and only
Summary: Reid based. While working on a case in Virginia, Reid meets a beautiful young woman whom he is instantly attracted to. But she is the main suspect. Reid believes she is innocent, but can he convince the rest of the team? And solve the case in time? my 1st
1. Chapter 1

**Criminal Minds Fanfic. – Going Under.**

Spencer Reid sat at his desk in BAU headquarters in Quantico Virginia, it was 8.30 in the morning, he'd been there for about forty minutes, trying to wrap his head around the paper work on his desk. The write up following an interview by Rossi and himself of a serial killer on death row in Georgia, who had held six women hostage, raping and torturing them for three months before finally hanging them.

But he was finding it difficult to concentrate, not because of the hideousness of the crimes, he was used to that, but he had other things on his mind.

He looked up from his desk in the ball pen, he could see JJ in her office, thumbing through paperwork and holding a protective hand over her ever increasing bump. He smiled at the sight of his friend, the soon-to-be mother, and remembered a time when he'd had funny feeling for her, back when he still felt like the dorky kid in the playground around his BAU colleagues. They had all grown so much over the last couple of years, and now it seemed as though everybody had a special somebody. JJ had Will, Garcia had Kevin, Morgan, well Morgan has a different special someone every week! Spencer didn't know if Emily Prentiss had anyone in her life, she tended to be fairly private about her personal life, but he could see it. He was starting to feel like he was the only single guy left, but even though he did finally feel ready to open himself up to another person, where, he thought, would he ever find anyone? And when would he have the time to pursue a relationship? For the time being, he thought, his loneliness would have to be put in the file marked 'allow work to distract from' and filed away, deep in the back of his mind.

Just at that moment, JJ appeared beside him, pulling him out of his thoughts. He hadn't even noticed her leave her office.

"Hey Spence, conference room" she said grimly.

Spencer frowned "Are the rest of the team here? I thought I was early."

"Morgan is on his way, the rest of the team is in the conference room already."

"Is it a bad one?" Asked Reid, as they walked together toward the conference room.

JJ bit her bottom lip "not sure yet…"

Once all seven of them were assembled around the table, files in hand, Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner stood to address the group.

"O.k. guys, listen up, we have four kids, all gone missing within the last five weeks, first one five weeks ago, then another two weeks later, then another two last Monday.

The team looked shocked "what the hell?" Began Morgan "Child abduction cases are meant to be called in right away! Why are we only being brought in on this now?"

"Because" Replied Hotchner, "all the kids that have gone missing are juveniles, between the ages of fourteen and seventeen, with juvenile records. The police didn't think that they were abductions, they thought that they just runaways or up to no good!"

"And" added JJ "There was no physical similarities between the victims, boys and girls, different ethnicities, so the police didn't put them together."

"So what changed?" Asked Prentiss "why are we being called in now?"

"A witness came forward three days ago, 16 year old Rachel Riehm; apparently she saw the two who went missing last week getting into a van together early Monday morning." David Rossi answered.

JJ nodded, "apparently there's a social worker who reported the first kid missing, she kept on at the police, she was convinced that they hadn't just run away. Apparently she was the one who took the witness into the police station.

"So where are we going?" Emily asked "where did they go missing from?"

"Arlington." JJ answered

"Arlington?" Morgan said stunned, "That's like 30 miles away! It'll take forty minutes; we won't even have to take the plane!"

"Actually its 34.4 miles, we should allow up to an hour for traffic." Reid corrected him. The group sat in silence for a moment, looking puzzlingly at Spencer, who glanced, embarrassed, down into his lap. He realized that once again something that had seemed so important to say at the time, had turned out to be so trivial after he's said it out loud!

"Anyway" David Rossi broke the silence "We'll take two SUV's, we'll go over victimology in the car. Garcia I want you to find out everything you can on this social worker and the witness, they could be suspects.

"Right! I shall delve forthwith!" Said Penelope, raising her hand in a salute before marching out the door.

****

**Adolescents are not monsters. They are just people trying to learn how to make it among the adults in the world, who are probably not so sure themselves. ~Virginia Satir.**

Twenty minutes later two identical large black SUV's sped along the I-95 towards Arlington Virginia. One carrying SSA David Rossi, Dr Spencer Reid and Agent Emily Prentiss. The other carrying SSA Aaron Hotchner and Agents Derek Morgan and Jennifer Jareau. Their separate conversations were practically parallel.

"So, victimology, what do we know about these four kids?"

"Well, the first one to go missing was Graham Crawley, Caucasian, Fourteen years old. He has a juvenile record for assault and was in the foster care for two years after his mother was convicted for possession of narcotics, but she got clean and won her case to get him back, that was just three months ago. Graham went missing Monday 12th May this year, five weeks ago yesterday. He was last seen by his mother when he left for school that morning, but he never arrived at school and he's been missing ever since."

"The second victim, another boy, Billy Marshall, African-American, Seventeen years old. He was put into foster care when he was eight, after it was discovered that he was being abused by his father. He's been bounced from one foster home to another for the past nine years; he also has severe behavioral and emotional problems and a number of charges for assault, shoplifting and even grand theft auto."

"Poor kid!"

"Yea! Anyway, he was last seen leaving work at 2am Sunday 25th May. He has a part time job in an all night convenience store near his house. He never made it home from work that night.

The next two Victims both went missing at the same time. Fifteen year old Kim Hattchet and her boyfriend Sixteen year old Carlos Jimenez were walking to school together when they were seen getting into the back of a van, by our witness Rachel Riehm, a week ago yesterday, Monday 9th June."

"What do we know about these two then?"

"Well Kim Hattchet is a sixteen year old Caucasian female, and she's pregnant."

"Is it the boyfriends?"

"Don't know, she has a record for prostitution so its not 100 percent."

"Prostitution? At fifteen?"

"Yea. And she was eight months pregnant when she went missing, so it's crucial that we find her as soon as possible!"

"Right! And the boyfriend?"

"Carlos Jimenez, Hispanic, Sixteen years old. He has a juvenile record for supplying class B drugs. He's been under the guardianship of his twenty-five year old brother since their mother died two years ago."

At that moment Morgan's phone rang, he looked down at the caller I.D; it was Garcia "Hey baby girl! Speak to me!"

"Hey hot stuff! Got the 411 on your witness and the social worker, you ready?"

"Okay, I'll put you on speaker"

"Argh not cool! Okay so, the witness. A sixteen year old girl named Rachel Riehm, nothing much to report I'm afraid. She's a strait A honour student, never been in trouble with the police, she volunteers for a local elderly care home in Arlington. She lives with her married parents, her mother is a nurse in the same care home Rachel volunteers at, and her father is a _U S Marine Corps_ Gunnery Sgt. She's just a good girl in general!"

"Okay, so what about the social worker?" Hotch Asked.

"Okay the social worker who reported the first Kid missing, an Ms Hollie Jackson, with the comprehensive services for at risk youth at Arlington Department of social services. She's a twenty six year old British Ex-pat living in Washington; she's been living there for just under three years. The weird thing is, she is the main social worker assigned to each of the four missing kid's cases! That's a pretty big coincidence!"

"Any criminal history?" Asked JJ

"Nope she's squeaky clean!"

"Did you check if she has a record back in Britain?" Hotch called over his shoulder from the driver's seat.

"Of course Sir! What do you take me for?" Smiled Garcia, proud to have pre-empted her superior.

Hotch smiled "Of course what was I thinking? So..."

"No, nothing there either, she's a completely up-standing citizen Governor'" Garcia answered, putting on a mock British accent.

Morgan laughed, "O.K thanks baby girl"

"Anytime sugar! Just call me!"

"O.K So we have a social worker with no priors, but that doesn't necessarily rule her out." JJ mused.

"That's right, she is the social worker on each of the missing kid's cases, she was the first to report any of them missing, and she's been following the investigation. If the last two kids to go missing were coaxed into a van by the unsub, it would be by someone they knew, trusted. The unsub wouldn't have to be all that strong to pull that off."

"It could have been a woman."

The two cars pulled into the parking lot of Arlington Police Dept. And all six agents stepped out.

"Right" Hotchner addressed his team "Reid and Prentiss, I want you to go to the social services dept, and talk to this social worker Hollie Jackson and get as much information about the victims as you can. She is a suspect so play close attention to her behaviour, watch how she reacts to your questions. JJ I want you to organise a press conference, there may be other witnesses out there. Or if it turns out these kids are just runaways, knowing someone is looking for them might make them call home! Morgan go to the school, talk to teachers, students, see if you can find out anything. Rossi and I will talk to the cops; see how far they've got. Everyone back here when you're done."

****


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

Aaron Hotchner and David Rossi walked together into Arlington police station, and were greeted by a tall, slim man with thinning grey hair and a moustache, in a Virginia police uniform. He shook each of their hands warmly, "Hello, you must be the FBI profilers, I'm Chief Douglas Scott, this is my deputy Steve Holl." He said, gesturing behind him to another younger man.

"I'm Agent Rossi, this is Agent Hotchner."

"Good to meet you, where are the rest of your team?"

"Three of them are out in the field, and our communications liaison is setting up a press conference." Hotch informed him, walking further into the station.

"Okay, so if you guys want to come in here, we'll go through what we have so far." Chief Scott said, leading them into a small interview room to the right side of the station. Inside the room was a rectangular table, and on it were four boxes, each with the name of one of the victims written in capitals on the side.

Hotch walked into the room, and began going through the boxes, "One full box for each victim? That's a lot of information!" He mused

"All the missing kid's have juvenile records; it wasn't difficult to get files on them!" Answered Deputy Holl, shrugging.

"So what about this Social Worker" Rossi asked, checking a file in his hand. "Hollie Jackson, what do you know about her?"

Chief Scott looked confused, "The social worker? She was the one who reported that first kid, erm… Graham Crawley, missing. She's also been in with a couple of the families, for moral support. She's been hounding us for weeks, trying to get us to look for these kids!"

"But you never did?" Rossi asked.

"Well, we let the beat officers know, showed them pictures, and put missing person's reports out to the local press."

"But no active investigation until now?"

"Not until that social worker bought in that witness on Friday! We figured they were runaways, we didn't see the point in wasting tax payers dollars on a bunch of juvenile delinquents, when we have rapes, murders and thefts happening every day!" The Chief answered, somewhat defensively.

"And quite frankly" He continued "I'm still not 100 percent that we should be!"

"You still don't believe these kids have been taken?" Hotch asked.

"I don't know, but the witness, Rachel Riehm, said she saw those two kids, getting into a large grey van, not being _forced_ into it! They could still just have run away!"

"If you think that, why did you call us?" Asked Rossi.

"Because, these kids are going missing pretty regularly. And that social worker is coming in nearly every day, with another family member of one of those missing kids."

Hotch and Rossi exchanged a glance,

"Look!" Continued the Chief, "At the end of the day, four kids are missing, one of them heavily pregnant. And they need to be found!"

"Agreed!" Replied Hotch "So, the social worker, you don't have anything on her?"

"Well no, I mean we have an address and contact information…" Replied the Chief, bemused.

"Why. Is she a suspect?" Asked Deputy Holl

"Yes, she may be." Hotchner informed him.

"But that's crazy, she's a social worker! She was the one who reported the first boy missing, and she's been fanatical about finding them ever since!"

"Its not unusual for an unsub in this instance to follow the investigation closely, to find out just how much the police know. They sometimes even go so far as to inject themselves into the investigation, to either try to divert themselves away from suspicion, or to make themselves feel superior to the police!"

"Well" interjected Rossi, "Two of our agents, Reid and Prentiss, have gone to talk to her now, so hopefully they should be able to give us some more information on her!"

Spencer Reid and Emily Prentiss pulled up outside Arlington Department of social services and stepped out of the car. It was an unusually hot May morning, and both of them were pleased to finally be somewhere that would have air conditioning. As they approached the building, Emily looked over at Spencer, "Are you OK Reid? You've seemed really quiet today."

Spencer looked up at her "Huh? Oh I'm fine, just thinking about these kids…"

"What about them?"

"Well if they were lured into a van by someone they trusted, Hotch is right, it wouldn't necessarily take a man to do that."

"I sense there's a but coming…" Emily raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"But…well, there haven't been any bodies, so we're assuming they're all still alive right?"

"Yes" Agreed Emily slowly.

"Well can you imagine a woman being able to keep four adolescents hostage together, without them overpowering her?"

"If she were a particularly physically fit woman possibly," answered Prentiss "And maybe she isn't keeping them all together, maybe they're being kept separately or she could be subduing them with drugs!"

Spencer nodded, "Yea I suppose your right, anyway…" He trailed off, gesturing towards the building in front of them.

They entered through the large double doors of the social services building, and headed for the front desk. Reid looked around him at the desks, and the many busy people milling around, profiling his surroundings without even thinking about it.

"Excuse me" said Emily to the middle aged woman sat behind the reception desk, as she pulled out her FBI Badge and showed it to the woman.

"I'm Agent Prentiss, this is Agent Reid, we're with the FBI, we're looking for Ms Hollie Jackson, is she available?"

The woman behind the desk was un-phased; she was used to police and officials being around the social services offices. She pressed the speed dial number for her college's office, and waited for a reply.

"Hello' Erin? Where is Hollie do you know? There are some people here to see her. About the missing kid's I think. Yea. OK Thanks Erin!"

Reid and Prentiss waited patiently.

"She's not in her office, I'm sorry I don't know where else she would be."

At that moment, a woman who was leaning across a nearby desk stood up, and looked towards the reception desk "Are you looking for me Maggie?" She called, with an obvious British accent.

"Ah, yes love. These people want to talk to you." The receptionist called back, and then as Ms Jackson came closer Maggie added in a low tone "They're from the FBI!"

Hollie Jackson approached the agents, shook their hands, and smiled politely, but not particularly happily.

"Hello, I assume you're here about the missing children?"

"Yes hello," Answered Prentiss "I'm Agent Prentiss, this is Dr Spencer Reid."

"Glad to meet you both, I'm so glad you're finally here!" Ms Jackson replied, smiling more warmly at them both. As her eyes met Reid's, he felt his breath stop in his throat, almost as though his heart stopped beating for a second. It caught him off guard and he found himself staring into Hollie Jackson's eyes, they were big, brown, deep and expressive. Full of warmth and genuine caring, and Spencer found himself mesmerised for a second, and in that moment he felt as though this woman couldn't possibly be guilty of abducting four children!

Spencer tried to speak, but instead ended up spluttering into a coughing fit. Emily looked at him shocked, and patted him roughly on the back.

"Oh dear, can I get you a glass of water Dr Reid?" Offered Hollie, with concern in her voice.

"Hrm hrm. No, thank you. I'll be fine!" He answered, composing himself.

"Good, would you like to step into my office?" Hollie asked them both.

"Yes, thank you." Replied Prentiss politely, and as the two agents followed the social worker into her office, Emily glanced back at Spencer, giving him a questioning look. Asking him silently if he was alright, to which Reid raised a hand dismissively. Hollie Jackson ushered them both into her office, where a different young woman sat at a desk at one end of the room, flicking through files. In the middle of the room, opposite the door, was a small office chair facing towards the desk. And at the other end of the room, was a small orange two-seater sofa, a stripy red armchair and two yellow beanbags all surrounding a low-to-the ground light wooden coffee table.

"Erin honey, would you mind just giving us ten minutes?" Hollie addressed her colleague; the woman looked up from her work and smiled,

"Of course, no problem, I'll use Richard's desk. I think he's out of the office all day anyway!"

"Thanks Erin" Said Hollie, closing the door after her friend. She then walked towards her desk, but instead of sitting in the chair behind, which her colleague had previously been sat in; she placed her hands behind her on the front corner of the desk, and leant on them, facing Prentiss and Reid.

Spencer looked at the woman stood in front of him, until now he hadn't really noticed anything but her eyes. But now he could see that the rest of her was fairly breathtaking too. She was shorter than Reid by a bit and slim with a pretty figure. She had long deep auburn hair, the top half was tied half in a ponytail, and the bottom half left to fall down her back in waves.

She wore a dark pantsuit, with a turquoise blue t-shirt underneath, and smart black, heeled shoes.

"Mrs Jackson" Began Emily, interrupting Reid from his thoughts.

"It's Ms, but please call me Hollie!" She replied, smiling.

"Hollie, I understand you were the first to report any of the children missing?" Prentiss continued

"Yes, I reported Graham Crawley missing on Tuesday 12th May. That was about five weeks ago! I'm glad the police have finally gotten off their arses to do something about it!"

Spencer smiled at the English pronunciation of asses, and asked "Can you tell me why was it you who reported him missing, not his mother?"

"Well it was sort of accidental; he left for school on the Monday, and when he didn't turn up at school, no one thought anything of it. It wasn't exactly unusual." She smiled a little when she said this, like she was reminiscing. "He had told his mother that he'd be staying at a friend's house that evening, so she wasn't expecting him home after school. It wasn't until he missed a regularly scheduled appointment with me on the Tuesday that anyone realised he was actually missing. So when he missed our meeting I rang his mother, she didn't know where he was, so while she called some of his friends. I called the police. And when he still hadn't turned up by Wednesday. I was the one who took Julie Crawley to the police station."

"Julie Crawley, I take it, is Graham's mother?" Prentiss asked, whilst jotting in her notepad.

"Yes that's right." Hollie Replied.

"And you also took Rachel Riehm to the police station to give her witness statement on Friday, is that right?" Spencer asked kindly.

"Yes," she nodded

"Again, why you?" Prentiss asked inquisitively

"Because I was the one Rachel came to. The police weren't looking for any of the missing kids; so on Friday morning during their High School's 11th grade assembly, the head master talked about the kids that are still missing, specifically Kim and Carlos. He asked anyone who knew anything to come and see me. I'm at the school a lot; most of the kids there know me or have seen me in some capacity or other."

Prentiss and Reid nodded, and continued to listen.

"Anyway, after the assembly Rachel found me, and told me that last Monday morning on the way to school, she'd seen Kim and Carlos getting in the back of a big grey van. She hadn't thought anything of it at the time and until that assembly, she hadn't even realised that they were two of the kids who were missing."

"So you took her to the police station right away?" Spencer asked.

"After I'd called her mother to ask for permission yes!"

"And she gave it?"

"Of course!"

Prentiss sat down on the chair facing the desk and asked "So you know all four kids pretty well then?"

"Hmmm yes, I'm the case worker for all four of them! I spend a lot of time with each of them and their families. They're not bad kids; they've just had some difficult things to deal with. But they don't deserve to have this happen to them! Someone needs to find them!"

"That's why we're here." Reid assured her. She smiled at him and nodded, the sight of which made Spencer's stomach flutter a little.

"Okay, well I think that's everything for now Hollie, thank you very much for all your help!" Said Prentiss, standing.

"No problem! If you think of anything else, please call me anytime!" Hollie replied, shaking Prentiss' hand firmly,

"Just one thing," Prentiss added, "Could you point me in the direction of your toilet?" She asked, smiling.

Hollie laughed, "Of course! It's right through this door, immediately to your left and down the hall!"

"Thank you" Prentiss replied "Reid, I'll be back in a minute!"

Reid nodded to Prentiss as she walked out the door. Then turned to Hollie.

"So, how has it been on you? Having these kids go missing? They must be pretty important to you?" Reid asked Hollie, caring genuinely.

"Yes, I care about all the kids I get given the cases of, I'm worried sick about them!"

Reid nodded sympathetically. Hollie sighed, and unbuttoned the three buttons of her suit jacket, making herself more comfortable. Underneath her jacket revealed an animation of a Smurf with glasses on her turquoise t-shirt, and underneath were the words 'I Love Nerds'.

"Look, Dr Reid." Holly sighed "I'm not stupid, I'm well aware that I am a suspect and that it is hugely suspicious that all the kids that have gone missing are _my_ cases. But I have nothing to do with it I assure you, and the longer you and your team are investigating me, the less time your spending finding these children!"

Reid nodded, "Don't worry, finding these kid's is our number one priority, its why we're here!" He reassured her. "I like your top by the way!" He added awkwardly.

Hollie looked down, almost to remind herself what she was wearing, "Oh yea!" She laughed "I find it works well, I wear the suit, when I'm around my colleagues and peers. Then when I'm with a child, I can take the jacket off, and be less intimidating. They tend to respond to me better if they think I'm on their wavelength! Plus I do love this top!" Hollie smiled.

Reid smiled back "Is it true?" He asked.

"What?"

"Your top?"

Hollie smiled, and blushed a little, hoping Dr Reid wouldn't notice her blushing she attempted to smile nonchalantly and replied "Yes! Its completely true! Intelligence is a very attractive thing in a man!"

At that moment, Prentiss walked back into the room,

"Ok Reid, are you ready to go?"

Reid nodded "Yep, thanks again Ms Jackson!"

"Hollie! And don't worry about it, just find these kids, please!"

As they walked down the steps of the social services building and towards the car, Reid said to Prentiss

"I don't think she's our unsub, do you?"

Prentiss frowned, "I'm not sure. I didn't see anything conclusive. Why did you?"

"Well maybe a couple of things, while you were in the bathroom, but I just don't think she's the type of person who would kidnap four children!"

Prentiss stood still and stared at Spencer, "Reid, you know as well as I do, people are rarely what they seem! Many unsub's could charm a rattle snake!"

Reid murmured, "She seemed sincere to me, she maintained eye contact, she seemed to have genuine concern for the kids, without becoming over the top emotionally. And she had good body language."

Emily smiled "You mean she had a good body!" she joked.

Reid frowned "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying" began Emily, "I could tell you thought she was attractive, but that doesn't mean she isn't guilty!"

Anger flashed across Reid's face, "Emily! I would never suggest that you would let emotional feeling get in the way of your ability to do your job! I am a professional, and I'd appreciate the same professional courtesy! Besides which, your wrong!"

"About her being the unsub, or about you having feelings for her?" Emily smiled.

"Both" Reid said flatly, and got in the car.

****


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

Derek Morgan stepped out of the car and took off his sunglasses, squinting against the sun, to look at the building in front of him. It was a small building, only two stories, but long and fairly open, built out of red brick with white wood paneling across the windows. The words 'Wakefield High School.' Were painted in capital letters across the front of the building. It looked like any typical American High School.

Morgan shut the car door and walked purposefully into the school foyer. There was a large reception desk, where a woman was sat filing papers.

"Excuse me, miss?" Derek ventured as he walked towards her, getting her attention,

"Yes, can I help you sir?" She replied off-handedly,

Derek took out his badge and held it for her to see.

"I'm Special Agent Morgan with the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI; I was hoping to speak to someone about the four children that are missing."

The woman behind the desk put down her papers "Of course! I'm Alicia Zekan, I'm the Administrative Assistant to the principal, I'm afraid she's out at the moment, but our Assistant Principal, Betty Sanders is in, is that okay?"

"That's fine; I just need as much information on the missing children as anyone can give me."

Alicia pressed a button on the intercom in front of her and waited, smiling uncomfortably at Morgan.

"Yes Alicia?" A voice crackled from the intercom,

Alicia coughed to clear her throat, "Erm... Betty, there is a gentleman here from the FBI; he wants some information on the kids that are missing."

"I'll be right there" Answered the intercom calmly.

A few seconds later, a door across the hall opened, and out stepped an older woman with dark hair, holding a beige folder under her arm, she walked up to the desk and handed the folder to Alicia,

"These are the consent forms for the trip to DC, can you check if we have all of them please?"

Alicia nodded, and the woman turned to Derek and smiled stiffly. "I'm Betty Sanders the Assistant Principal, you're from the FBI?" She asked matter-of-factly. Her abrupt manner reminded Morgan of some of the teachers he'd had as a child in Chicago, and that familiar feeling of intimidation they had always caused in him.

"Yes, I'm Special Agent Morgan, I'm here as part of a team from Quantico investigating the disappearance of four of your students."

Betty nodded grimly "Yes. Graham, Billy, Carlos and Kimberly. Well, I can't tell you much about them I'm afraid, they weren't exactly star pupils!"

Morgan frowned, "Well any information you have could help, and I'd also like to talk to some of their classmates and friends, to see if I can find out anything about them personally."

Betty nodded again.

"All our students are in classes at the moment, I can get someone to take you to each of the classes these kids would be in if they were here, and while your talking to the students I'll get you copies of their permanent records and report cards, how's that?"

"That would be very helpful thank you." Morgan replied, nodding.

A short time later Derek Morgan was being escorted down the halls of Wakefield High School by another Administrative Assistant, named Bob Strauss.

"So where do you want to go first?" Bob asked "Graham Crawley was in 9th Grade, they're in Math right now, Kim and Carlos were in 10th Grade, they're in P.E right now, and Billy Marshall belonged to the 11th Grade, and they are in Chemistry."

"Whichever is closer" Morgan answered flippantly, frowning, "You do know that we may still find them alive right?" he asked his escort, narrowing his eyes.

Bob shrugged "I know. Why?"

"Because" answered Derek, "You keep saying 'Were.' They _were _in the 10th Grade. Don't you mean they _are_ in the 10th Grade?"

Bob Strauss pulled a face. "Well the amount of time they spent in school, it may as well have been past-tense well before they went missing!"

Morgan shook his head silently, appalled at the lack of compassion the faculty seemed to show for their missing students.

Bob stopped outside a classroom, "11th Grade Chemistry, Billy Marshall's class" he told Morgan, and opened the door.

Morgan followed him into the classroom, and a sea of young faces stared silently at him.

"This is Jeremy Mayers, the Chemistry teacher for this class." Bob Strauss said, gesturing to a tall slim man, with thinning brown hair, stood at the front of the classroom.

Morgan shook his hand and continued to look round at the students while Bob explained to the Science teacher, and the class, why Derek was there.

"Well I don't know how much we'll be able to help you Agent Morgan," Jeremy Mayers said loudly "Mr. Marshall was a part time attendee to this class, and many others I believe!" the teacher joked, smiling. The class giggled loudly, and Derek found himself getting angry at the disregard they all seemed to have for these children's lives.

"Well," Morgan began addressing the students "I'd really like to talk to anyone who is friends with Billy, to find out who he hang's out with and what he does for fun. Anything anyone could tell me might help me and my team to find him!" Derek waited for a response, and then after a few seconds of silence a boy in the second row called out obnoxiously "He's probably just out pulling drive-by's with his _gangster_ friends!" The class laughed loudly, and Morgan stared at the boy, with spiky blonde hair and a smirk on his face. Morgan made eye contact with him and continued to stare, until the smirk disappeared and the boy began to shift uncomfortably in his seat. Then Morgan noticed at the back of the room, two boys, sat with they're heads down. One wearing a gray hoodie, pulled up over his head, the other wearing a black cap and baggy t-shirt. The only two not laughing.

Morgan walked towards them and pulled a stool to the front of their desk. Sitting down he blocked their view of the rest of the class.

"Hey, are you mates of Billy's?" He asked quietly,

The boys shrugged and said nothing, looking up from their desks to size Morgan up.

"You're not going to get anyone into any trouble, we're just trying to find Billy and the others, they might be in danger!"

One of the boys looked Morgan in the eye. "These assholes think Billy's just on the run," He said, nodding towards the rest of the class, "But he'd never go anywhere without telling us first!"

Morgan nodded "You guys are good friends?" He asked,

"Since like 3rd Grade!" Said the other boy.

"And you don't think he just ran away?"

"Nah! No way! Not without telling us!"

Morgan nodded, and jotted in his notebook.

"What about the other kids? Are you friends with them?"

The boys shrugged and shook there heads, "They all in lower Grades."

"So you didn't have any contact with any of them?"

The boys smirked "Well, Kim. Everybody knows Kim Hattchet!"

"Both of you know her?" Morgan asked, surprised.

"She's fooled around with most of the guys in this Grade" The first boy answered smiling.

"So do you know who the father of her baby is?"

The boys coughed abruptly and shifted in their seats "Its not me man! I haven't fooled around with Kim since 9th Grade!"

"Yea me neither!" Exclaimed the other boy quickly, "and we only got to 3rd base!" He added, laughing.

Morgan smiled "I didn't mean you; I just wondered if you knew _who_ the father is!"

The boys shook there heads.

Morgan sighed "Okay, so the four missing students, did they ever hang out together? Are they friends?"

The boys shrugged again, "They knew each other from around, you know, we all knew each other from around."

"Around where?" Morgan asked.

"You know, School, Downtown, Barcroft… Around!"

Morgan looked at the boys "What's Barcroft?"

"It's just a youth centre some of the guys go to, it's pretty lame!" answered the boy in the hoodie,

"Yea" nodded the other boy, "But they've got foosball, and air hockey, and stuff. And there's always Pizza or somethin' so we go there sometimes, if there's nothin' better to do!"

"When is it on?"

"Wednesday's and Friday's."

Morgan nodded, and thanked the boys for their help, and continued with Bob Strauss to the rest of the classes.

A while later Derek walked into Arlington Police Dept. Carrying a box with the copies of the victim's permanent records and report cards. He dropped it onto a nearby desk in front of JJ.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Report cards and permanent records!" Derek answered, patting the top of the box.

"Did you find out anything?" Hotch asked, walking out of a nearby interview room, followed by Prentiss and Rossi.

"Not a lot, except that everyone at that school pretty much wrote these kids off a long time ago! It's no wonder they were all in so much trouble! The teachers there seemed to think this was all just some big joke!"

The team looked sadly at Morgan "What about the Social Worker? Any luck there?" Morgan asked.

"Not really." Prentiss answered.

"I don't think she's our unsub!" Reid said, as he walked towards the team with two cups of coffee in his hands. Handing one to Morgan he continued "She maintained eye contact, wasn't defensive and seemed genuinely concerned about the kids. But she couldn't give us much more info on them than we already had."

"I still think it's too much of a coincidence that she's the case worker for all the missing kids! And _I_ didn't see anything to convince me that she isn't involved!" Emily interposed.

"There was one other thing" Morgan added suddenly. "A couple of the students mentioned a Youth Club that they go to, apparently our four victims used to go to it too. Barcroft I think they said it was called."

Chief Scott looked up from his desk, "Yea, Barcroft Youth Club, it's near the School. We get a fair amount of calls out to there! It's where all the kids from the rough neighborhoods go to hang out."

"Who runs it?" Asked Hotch.

"A guy named Chris Moorland. He's the Assistant Pastor down at Trinity Church and he puts the Youth Club on twice a week to try to get ministry to the kids. Most of the time they just take the place over, but he still keeps opening it up twice a week!"

"Okay, well we should get in touch with him; he may be able to give us some more information on the victims." Hotch addressed the team, "In the meantime, we need to try to start on a working profile of our unsub, but with no calls or ransom demands, and only one witness were going to have our work cut out for us! So let's get started!"

* * * *


End file.
